Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 'Won't Be Close!' Says NFL Analyst

Division games in the NFL are usually tight and tense affairs, but one analyst thinks that the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers clash won't be a close one.

The Baltimore Ravens will travel into hostile territory for the second consecutive week as they take on Mike Tomlin's Pittsburgh Steelers.

With the Ravens fresh off a 28-3 beatdown of the Cleveland Browns, coach John Harbaugh's team, despite sometimes being up-and-down on offense, will be in a confident mood. 

The same can't be said for the Steelers, who are coming off a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans. But division games have a funny way of always being close affairs and often come down to the final few plays. Right?

Wrong, says CBS Sports' Garrett Podell, who thinks that this Ravens and Steelers clash won't be close ... at all.

"Since Mike Tomlin became the Steelers' head coach in 2007, this rivalry has seen 22 games decided by five or fewer points, the most in the NFL for any matchup by seven games. However, Sunday's matchup will not be close,” Podell wrote. 

The CBS reasoning? Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who as the site writes is "set to play in his first game against the Steelers in 672 days, his first since Week 13 of the 2021 season, a 20-10 Pittsburgh victory. The Jackson that is set up to take the field in Pittsburgh in Week 5 is on fire. ...''

So Podell doesn't give the Steelers much of a chance against the Ravens, and looking at the stats, we can see why.

If Pittsburgh is to stay with Baltimore's explosive offense, they will need to put up points regularly, which has proven difficult this season. The Steelers are averaging just 15.5 points per game (ranks 25th), and one would imagine that under-fire coordinator Matt Canada and his offense will need to make every post a winner.

The Ravens offense averages 24.8 points a game, but the defense has been superb this season, only allowing 14.5 points a game.

So, the Steelers will have their work cut out for them. They have to stop Lamar Jackson and his offense, which is getting some key members back, and the offense needs to score points against a defense that doesn't give up much at all.

On paper, it looks like the game "won't be close," but as we have seen through the first month of football, nothing in the NFL is a certainty.